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More UK terror suspects arrested

British police arrested two more suspects in a hunt for members of a suspected al-Qaeda cell that rammed a jeep packed with fuel into an airport and left two car bombs in London, police said yesterday.

Cars and other vehicles were banned from directly approaching airports and security measures were stepped up across the country as authorities kept the threat level at "critical," meaning the possibility of an attack is "imminent."

Government ministers said good progress was being made in the investigation and police sources said it was highly likely more suspects would be detained. The latest two arrests, made on Sunday night, took the number of people detained to seven.

Police said the two men, aged 25 and 28, were not believed to be of Scottish origin and were detained as a result of an "intensive police operation" in the Paisley area, which is west of Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city.

"This continues to be a fast-moving investigation," said assistant chief constable John Malcolm of Strathcylde police in Scotland. "I would continue to urge people to be vigilant."

A British security source said it was premature to say whether all those arrested were foreigners. "That's still an area that's being looked at. That's far from certain, as to what nationalities the people are," the source said.

However, officials in Jordan said yesterday that one of the suspects arrested in Britain by police investigating three failed car bombings is a Jordanian doctor called Mohammed Jamil Abdelkader Asha.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his wife had also been arrested.

Asha, 27, is of Palestinian origin and carries a Jordanian passport, they said.

He obtained his medical degree in Jordan in 2004.

His father Jamil AbdelKader Asha said he had not been informed of his son's arrest and had learned about it via the media.

"My son is incapable of such acts," he said.

The attacks are a stiff test for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who last week replaced Tony Blair. In 2005, Britain was the first country in Western Europe to be hit by Islamist suicide bombers and since then several plots have been foiled.

Brown has said he believes those behind the botched attacks were associated with militant group al-Qaeda.

Police and ministers said protective security measures would be stepped up across Britain, particularly at transport hubs.
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